Woke policies are destroying Minnesota

Minnesota is a land full of natural resources, cool lakes, and magical winters — I know, I grew up there. But the far-left policies that liberal politicians have implemented in the state have corrupted it.

Take the most recent debacle, which made national news. The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Minneapolis Public Schools agreed that if staff layoffs were necessary, teachers of color would be shielded from seniority-based layoffs.

The contract language reads that “if excessing a teacher who is a member of a population underrepresented among licensed teachers in the site, the district shall excess the next least senior teacher, who is not a member of an underrepresented population.”

Although the contract was agreed upon back in March after a 14-day strike , the deal only recently garnered national coverage. When some Minnesotans expressed outrage , Greta Callahan, the president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, remarked that she was proud of the agreement and blamed conservatives. “The same people who want to take down teachers unions and blame seniority are now defending it for white people,” Callahan said . “This is all made up by the right wing now. And we could not be more proud of this language.”

Minnesota’s education officials have been focusing on this and other “woke” issues for a while now. A year ago, over 160 principals and assistant principals in Minnesota cosigned a pledge to bring more racial equity to their state’s educational system, or, as they said it, to “decenter whiteness” in education — whatever that means. I guess now, with this new contract, they’ve accomplished their goal. Hopefully it helps give Minnesota public school students a stellar education, but something tells me it won’t.

Formulating a policy that purposely requires reverse discrimination based on race for teachers who are taxpayer-funded government employees is par for the course from a city that has embraced liberal politicians and their agendas for decades. From Hubert Humphrey and Paul Wellstone to Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken, and Ilhan Omar , Minnesotans continually choose liberals to represent them. It took some time, but eventually, the policies they’ve implemented have seeped deep into the urban areas that now reflect some of the most progressive ideas possible.

Minneapolis has become a bastion of progressivism, second only to cities such as San Francisco and Chicago. In the wake of George Floyd’s death, rioters in 2020 damaged 1,300 properties, costing the city’s taxpayers $350 million. Nearly 100 of those were completely destroyed. Rioters looted St. Paul too, damaging 330 buildings at a cost of $82 million . Yet, in response, Minneapolis’s leaders begged forgiveness for Floyd’s death and actually pledged to defund the police . The rioters received nary a slap on the wrist. Only a massive crime wave in 2021 caused leaders to pause and Democrats to admit that banning police was a mistake .

Add to this one of the highest income tax rates in the country, nearly 10% , and it’s obvious why loyal residents who love Minnesota’s natural beauty, cultural charm, and Scandinavian roots are leaving in droves. Minnesota is now ranked one of the top 10 states for “outbound migration” in the country. Unless the state reconsiders its woke policies, don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She is an opinion columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.